The beginning

     I have now arrived in Kenya and am having a fantastic time so far! I spent the first night at a hotel in Nairobi since my flight arrived late in the evening, but today I moved in with my host family who live in a suburb of Nairobi (next to Nairobi National Park where I will be interning). The family is wonderful! They are very friendly and welcoming and really have made me feel at home in the short time I have been here. They also made a delicious lunch (lunch is the biggest meal of the day here) consisting of chicken, spinach, and maize (they have maize with just about every meal).  You also completely eat with your hands (you use the maize to pick up all the food) which is certainly something I enjoy :P
     Also today we visited a giraffe center where they are undergoing a breeding program for an extremely rare subspecies of giraffe (known as Rothschild giraffes).  There are only 350 Rothschild giraffes left in the wild in Kenya and this breeding center has 7 (6 females and 1 male - not a bad life for the male! haha). I got to feed the giraffes and even fed some out of my mouth! They call it a "giraffe kiss".  Quite slimy, but exciting nonetheless.

    After the giraffe center I visited the David Sheldrick Wildlife Fund which is an orphanage for baby elephants. They rescue orphaned babies in the wild (one of the babies was 2 days old when they found it and he had fallen down a well! He's doing great now though!). Once the babies reach about 2 or 3 years old they begin a 5 year process of integrating them back into a wild herd in one of the national parks in Kenya (I believe there are 10 national parks total).  It was really amazing to hear about these conservation efforts and to see these adorable little baby elephants!